Garbage truck arm pins, kills mechanic

He was planning trip to native Cuba

Raul Figueroa looked forward to returning to his native Cuba this summer to meet his grandson for the first time.

But the 45-year-old truck technician was killed Thursday morning when a garbage truck arm pinned him and cut him in two.

Figueroa, of West Palm Beach, was working on the hydraulics between the cab and the truck when the arms lifted and pinned him. The accident happened at the Waste Management Center at 3831 N. Powerline Road in unincorporated north Broward County, just outside Deerfield Beach.

A co-worker discovered Figueroa's body at 9 a.m. when he went to check if he needed help, said Veda Coleman-Wright, a Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

"He was a great guy and a great human being," said John Casagrande, the company's market vice president for South Florida. "He was truly one of the most well-liked people at our company, one of those employees that never said no."

The company has no record of previous accident investigations by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration at the north Broward landfill, according to OSHA's inspection database.

The exact time of death was unknown. Figueroa had arrived at work at 5 a.m., and company officials estimate about 40 minutes elapsed between the last time Figueroa was seen getting a part and the time his body was found at 9 a.m.

The Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy. OSHA also is investigating the accident and interviewing employees.

Figueroa worked for Waste Management for seven years after leaving Cuba with his wife and two children. In March, he would have celebrated his eighth anniversary with the company. He had two other children in Cuba from a previous marriage and a grandson he never met.

He missed his home country, which he could visit only every three years because of government restrictions on travel to Cuba, his family said. He kept the culture alive, drinking Cuban coffee and eating toasted Cuban bread before work in the mornings.

"He left Cuba, but Cuba didn't leave him," said his son, Jesus Rojas, 20, surrounded by weeping family members in West Palm Beach.

The family has a lot of questions about the accident, they said.

Rojas said his father worked hard to support his family and liked his job.

"I never heard him complain," Rojas said. "He stood for working hard. ... He was one of these guys who liked to party but in its time and place."

The family plans to bury Figueroa in Florida, but a location hadn't been determined Thursday.

Staff Writer Jon Burstein contributed to this report.

Michael Turnbell can be reached at mturnbell@sun-sentinel.com, 954-356-4155 or 561-243-6550.

ONLINE: A Sheriff's Office spokeswoman talks about the accident in a video report at Sun-Sentinel.com/broward